| Abstract [eng] |
Addiction is a complex and multifaceted issue that negatively affects communities, families and individuals. Statistical data reveals the relevance of the problem. In 2023, at least one diagnosis directly related to alcohol use was registered in 27 thousand people, in 2021, 14.1 percent of the population aged 15–64 reported having used drugs at least once in their lives, from May 2017 to March 2025, 71,100 requests to prohibit gambling were received. People suffering from addiction in Lithuania are offered various types of services – rehabilitation in communities for addicts, complex assistance in mental health centers and Republican centers for addiction diseases, low-threshold offices are open. Social workers are actively involved in providing the above-mentioned services, but despite it‘s diversity, most efforts to help end in service recipients relapses. This encourages the search for new approaches to help addicted individuals on the path to recovery. This work explores the perspective of spirituality in social work practice, which can be considered the basis of all good practice, a way of being and acting throughout the entire assistance process. A study was conducted with the aim to reveal the features of spiritually sensitive social work practice with individuals suffering from addictions. To achieve the goal, the following tasks were formulated: to analyze the concept of spirituality in social work, to discuss the significance of spirituality in the field of addictions, to determine the importance of spiritually sensitive social work practice for the recovery process. To achieve the goal, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 social workers, who provides services to individuals suffering from addictions. The conducted study revealed the features of spiritually sensitive social work practice in the field of addictions. Key findings: spiritually sensitive social worker, in order to achieve positive changes, includes spiritually sensitive activities in practice – prayer, cooperation with clergy, visits to churches. The social worker takes into account the spiritual needs of addicted persons, including the need to tell a life story, the need for faith. Spiritual competencies are used in practice – the ability to explore a person's spiritual world and apply spiritually sensitive interventions. Social workers actively help a person on the path to recovery, social workers identify the actions that need to be taken to achieve sobriety – learn to be grateful, be able to let go, for example, painful experiences, be able to forgive for the wrongs done to him and take action to compensate for the harm he has caused, do good deeds, develop relationships with the Higher Power. |
